The Royals

Chapter 18

Could this man kill him?

Suspicion gnawed at the prince. How much did he really know about the physician, especially his state of mind of late? 'Sir Maarcus, my apologies.' He nodded at his sword and dropped his hand.

'Not at all, sire. I owe you the apology. I didn't mean to startle you.' He sounded in control of his faculties. For the moment.

What was he doing here?

The prince struggled for suitable wording to expose the other's purpose. 'In these uncertain times, I should have been listening for anyone trailing me - not that you meant me harm of course."

The physician looked briefly hurt and shocked at the suggestion. He quickly composed his expression and nodded sadly. 'It's true. One does well not to trust any but those he has known since birth. More's the pity.'

It's the only way I've ever known, Henry thought. I don't think I'd be comfortable if it were different.

Maarcus glanced around. 'Actually I wasn't following you. I come here every so often to remind myself of why we continue to fight.' His gaze fell on the rumpled bed which commanded an imposing spot. This was your father's chamber. He spent his last months here.' In a quieter voice the physician said, 'He died here.'

'How could you let it fall into such disrepair? This room is a disgrace.'

'I agree. It is a shame.'

'Well then?'

I've left it as he lived it. Abadan and I tried to impose order on your father, but he chose his own path. The last weeks of his life, people crowded this room as if they attended a coming-out party rather than his impending funeral. He allowed it and thus was the room a humiliation to any who honored the Great King.' The physician's hand shook as he reached up to smooth the bedsheets. 'I miss him. Tomar was a great man.'

His face suddenly hard, Maarcus looked up into the prince's eyes. Henry braced for an attack.

His elder had other things in mind apparently. He didn't seem to notice Henry's change of posture as he said, 'But the Great King was fallible as all men are. He made grave mistakes, errors which may well have cost him everything he achieved. You and your sister were his last hope. See that you don't dishonor his memory.'

Prince Henry didn't know how to respond. Here stood a man who'd probably forgotten more than he himself would ever learn about the Ash Kingdom. The prince could learn much from him. Yet something stood in the way.

Was it his own hesitation or the scientist's?

Henry willed himself to take advantage of this moment before the man's clear head deserted him forever. 'Would you tell me about him?'

Maarcus began to pace. 'Which man do you want to hear of the one who forged a peace that united peoples long forsworn to war, or the over-indulgent father? Or perhaps you'd like to know how you came to exist?' The royal physician sounded surprisingly bitter.

'I've no need to tear him down,' Henry said gently. Thinking, I've already lost him, he added, 'Though there may come a time when I might learn from his failings, I'd prefer to leave those between the king and the Sisters for now. His strengths are what united the Ash Kingdom and these are the lessons I would study under you.'

Maarcus stopped in mid-stride and again stared into the younger man's eyes. "There's where you're wrong. I cannot teach you anything useful about his strengths.' He paused. 'Well, maybe this. Because Tomar didn't believe others when they warned him against the impossible, he made the inconceivable happen. Thus was the Ash Kingdom born on the one hand.' He extended an open palm, inviting with possibility. Thus did it die on the other.'

He curled the hand into a fist and shook it at the prince. 'You and your sister must learn to embrace the two halves into a proper whole.' All ten fingers intertwined and wiggled at him as if Maarcus played a child's game. This is your legacy as the king's twin offspring.'

His hands fell to his sides as his focus dropped to his feet. He looked like a boy about to be scolded. 'Forgive me, sire. I'm not normally given to pronouncements or prophecies.'

Henry's chance had passed. 'Quite all right, Maarcus.' Thinking over the vague advice he'd been offered, the prince circled the vast room. He caressed the tapestries, the bed, the floor coverings. Beneath the dirt and disarray, his father spoke. Henry would find a way to reach through the murky layers of time until he discovered what lay buried in this room.

A hand rested on his shoulder then pulled away. Footsteps echoed on the stone floor and into the hallway. Henry dismissed the distractions. He checked behind every hanging, underneath every carpet. Finally he went to the writing desk in the corner. If anything it seemed even more mistreated than the rest. He opened the lid and checked through the papers. Interesting only as archives now, these were merely ledgers of the times.

Henry knocked on the wood top, bottom and sides. He flipped the desk over and pulled and twisted at the legs one by one. On the third leg, he found what he'd been searching for. It twisted out neatly. At the base where the leg joined the table, a dragon coin rested neatly in a pouch..

Kate's captor led her at a quick clip. With nothing but piercing blue sky in the wake of the previous day's storm, they made good time. Expecting to be shepherded to a deserted route where he hoped to kill her, the princess was surprised by his course. They were plainly heading back to the capital.

Rather than entering the city under the blackness of a starless night, they passed through the gates in full daylight. In better days the traffic would have been at its height.

A large, heavy-set guard came out of his tower and shouted, 'State your business.'

'The prince.'

"You'll be heading toward the palace then.'

'No. There's a house near the water the prince is partial to.'

"Ah, the house on the water. I see.' He raised his sword in salute. 'Do go directly. The streets are dangerous even here."

'We will. Thank you.' Familiar with more than her share of corruption, Kate instantly recognized a conversation spoken in code. Odd that they never referred to her brother by name. In fact, her keeper had yet to use so much as the common title of Dragon Prince.

The princess shrugged it off. Every conspiracy had its quirks. Perhaps Henry himself or the elfwitch insisted on this foolish 'anonymity' of the prince, as if there were any other princes in The Cliffs.

Later, the thought would gnaw at her along with Alvaria's many other eccentricities, and she would remem ber Maarcus repeatedly asking, 'which prince?'.

As the iron gate swung open, the watch signalled another man, who immediately ran off toward the sea. Preparing the way for new arrivals, Kate thought glumly.

No one noticed her. Dressed in sturdy but ordinary traveling clothes, she did not look like a princess. In the tense battle-charged atmosphere, residents did not stop to gossip as they encountered each other on the street. With the town flooded with starving refugees, they did not meet a stranger's eyes. Only a beggar seemed to note her passing.

'Coin, mistress, for a hungry man?'

A yank on her arm and a whispered reminder of Maarcus kept Kate from saying more than a tight-lipped, 'I'm very sorry. Sisters' peace.

' Having so recently craved her own return to obscurity, the princess was horrifed at how easily and quickly it was accomplished. Perhaps in a city of ever-changing factions, no one dared to publicly acknowledge her for fear it might cost them their lives.

She gave up looking for help and settled for studying their approach in preparation for later escape. The buildings on this side of The Cliffs weren't much different from those in the mountain towns she had known her entire life. Tiny houses stood packed shoulder to shoulder. Beneath the smell of salt from the nearby ocean lurked rot and sewage. It was a nauseating mix that made Kate's empty stomach roll.

For all that this was the nominal capital of the Ash Kingdom, sections were almost as devastated as the villages hardest hit by the elfwitch's campaign. A generation of warfare left pockmarked buildings and piles of brick rubble poking through filthy snow and ice. The road was in such poor repair that it barely deserved the designation. Men were more likely to lead their horses than sit them lest the animals trip and break a leg. When finally peace settled here, it would be hard to tell from war.

Her captor took her down a cramped alley Kate couldn't distinguish from its fellows. Her confusion wasn't unexpected really; she hadn't had much of a chance to explore the city in recent months and she had tended to avoid it completely in her previous profession.

He knocked on a door that was a mate to all the others they'd passed weathered wood with a heavy catch meant to hinder intruders. The brass knocker was molded into a dragon's head. Neither was this particularly unusual. Many humans felt nostalgic for the calmer years under the Great King's rule.

On second glance, the dragon held a strong resem blance to the imperial crest. The metal was not polished to bring attention to itself. Nonetheless, the comparison seemed undeniable if one knew where to look - the tilt to the head, the flaring of nostrils. Could this be an old hideaway of royals past… and present?

A soldier met them at the door with sword 'You can go now,' he told the kidnapper.

'But what about my money?"

'You'll get it.

' The scoundrel puffed up his chest. He stared up at the man nearly a head taller.

'When?'

What about Maarcus?'

Kate asked, taking advantage of 1 rift between them.

He tapped the tip of his blade against the man's gut. She's right. Job's not done 'til we have 'em both.'

'Should've given me some help if you were in such a hurry.'

The soldier smiled. 'I'm in no rush. I've got plenty of wood to keep me warm and cook my food. As for the prince, I think he would've been just as happy if they'd both been eaten by trolls.'

'But the prince

'The prince is rethinking his position. He's not so sure you're doing us any favors by bringing them here.'

.The man's face fell. 'I wanted to help the prince claim the throne.' His disappointment seemed genuine. 'I'm not in this for that elfwitch.'

The soldier's expression softened slightly. He sheathed his sword. 'See that Maarcus the Seventh arrives

afely and you'll get your coin.'

'Good enough.' He released Kate into the other's control. 'You mind your manners now,' he told her, 'if you value your friend.'

The princess didn't bother with a backward glance. Nothing could save either of them if her own brother wanted her dead.